Novice to Novice

As part of a regular series by and for novices, Dean gives a novice's point of view on some of the many spreadsheet and text editing programs that run under Linux.

This series has aimed at the Unix
beginner who has experience with MS-DOS. I have assumed that such a
person is exploring Linux primarily to learn Unix easily, cheaply,
and conveniently. This person may buy or download Linux, get it
running, and probably focus on the main veins—Networking,
X-Windows, GNU C/C++, etc.—without really exploring some of the
other offerings such as
sc,
oreo, or
xfractint. I originally dismissed
these programs, thinking they couldn't have much substance being
freeware and certainly couldn't compare to what exists in DOS or
Windows.

Then I realized that these freebies weren't necessarily equal
to the latest versions of
commercial programs like Lotus-123 or WordPerfect but perhaps would
be comparable to older versions. And I realized that, just like in
DOS/Windows, these freeware and shareware programs served to
fulfill an applications void or to present inexpensive alternatives
to their commercial counterparts or came into existance because
they were fun and a challenging exercise to develop.

This article will be the first of a small journey to seek out
these other programs and see what they have to offer. I will
concentrate on three main topics: spreadsheets and text editors,
databases, and seredipity. The general focus will be towards
business applications and things that would impress someone
visiting from a DOS/Windows environment.

For the majority of these programs, a major advantage over
commercial rivals is that the source code is included. Linux lovers
already know of that luxury. Unfortunately, that advantage usually
dissipates with the need to compile the source, a task that brings
anguish to many novices. As a note of reassurance to other novices,
I've found that recompiling isn't always a headache. With a swap
file active to boost memory, I've had few problems with compiles.
Many of the glitches I've had occur when the make files expect
certain files in certain places; that is, when file locations are
hardcoded in. And, of course, it helps to read the README
files.

A point to remember: many of these programs undergo constant
revision and by the time this article sees the light of print newer
versions may have been released. With the updates, changes may be
made to installation routines or requirements. Consequently the
procedures or problems I describe during installing or bugs that I
find may not always carry over to newer releases.

My goal is to see how these programs compare to known
DOS/Windows counterparts, not to imply that either operating system
is better, but simply to provide a frame of reference.

Finally, if no installation option was available from
Slackware I unarchived these programs under /usr as those more
experienced than myself in Unix have recommended.

Let's snoop around, shall we?

Interlude: The Agonies of Obsolescence

I realized that my copy of Linux from October 1994 was old.
Factor in the time for publishing preparations and I was committing
a grave disservice. It was time to upgrade to Linux 1.2.1.

Although I had been using Morse Telecommunications' Slackware
Professional 2.1 I decided to try another Linux offering. Highly
recommended, and what I tried, is InfoMagic's Linux Developer's
Resource. This 4-CD monster is an amazing bargain. Archives of
Sunsite, TSX-11, and GNU, “live” Slackware, tons of everything
else, and best of all: a great price. For the novice, the package
may be too overwhelming—there's only a little manual for
installation. (Other documentation is on the main CD. InfoMagic
offers a beginning package—“Linux Toolbox”—that looks pretty good
and comes with a variety of printed help.)

I have two complaints. The first is when using the Windows
Boot/Root disk maker routine of the Distribution. The manual says
that the program will let you choose UMSDOS as a Root option but I
didn't see one and I had to create one manually from the CD. Not a
big deal and certainly not heart attack inducing.

The second complaint, not specific to InfoMagic's product, is
far worse, but it only applies, I believe, to those having a Sony
cdu31a/cdu33a CD-ROM. The auto-detect function was removed or
disabled from the kernels. This means that even when you
specifically choose the cdu31a kernel from the “Q” disks or
recompile the kernel your CD-ROM still will not be recognized. At
least it did not for me. Why the decision to remove this chunk of
code which worked in earlier versions, I don't know. But I went
through Linux-novice hell to get Linux working again.

[The reason that cdu31a/33a autodetect support was removed is
that the only possible way to autodetect these drives is so
dangerous that detecting it has the potential to hang the computer
at boot. This was causing immense troubles for thousands of people
without Sony CD-ROM drives, and so the autodetect capability had to
be removed, and it is no longer part of the standard Linux kernel.
—ED]

A positive change is in the X-Windows configuration routine.
Now it does all the dirty work. You do
not have to manually edit any
files afterwords. As before, however, you will need all the
information about your monitor and video card, but the entire
process is easy and quick. Kudos!